Crippled Cranes
by Fox of Spades
Summary: Without Ayano they're crippled, they just refuse to admit it. The aftermath of her death leaves them broken, and years later they still need a hero - still need saving from themselves.
1. Goodbye to the Hero

**Happy Holidays, everyone ^^! I hope you enjoy the drabbles.**

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"They wrapped a red scarf around big sis' grave, y'know?" He doesn't like it when Kousuke or Tsubomi cry, so Shuuya tries to be brave for them, tries to be the hero Ayano was – the one who'd always make people happy, the one who'd always smile even though they were shattering like glass.

Kousuke is curled up into a ball on the sofa, sniffling into the sleeves of his jacket while Tsubomi is nowhere to be seen. He knows she's listening, hiding somewhere and he promises to find her. He always has and he always will.

Shuuya wants to cry too, but he tries to be brave – tries to be a hero. "Kousuke, Tsubomi," his voice cracks and tears well up in the corners of his eyes. Quickly, Shuuya wipes them away with his sleeve, smiling as he attempts to choke back sobs. It is hard, way too hard and Shuuya realizes that he can't be a hero, so he lies instead and his eyes flash red for a fraction of a second. He puts on a mask of smiles and sympathy, hoping that neither Kousuke nor Tsubomi will see through him. "We should visit her grave," he declares with a smile and a heroic thumbs up, "we can't let big sis get lonely, even heroes need company."

Kousuke hesitates for a moment before muttering a soft and shaky 'okay' "We can't leave big sister Ayano on her own." Kousuke looks like he is about to bawl, but he clenches both of his fists in a determined manner. "S-She needs us too, and I-I won't leave her." By the end of it he is staring at the floorboards, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Shuuya wants to give up the act, but he can't because if he doesn't take up the role of hero, then who will? Not the timid Tsubomi or the soft-hearted Kousuke, that's for sure. "Well, we shouldn't keep her waiting." He says with a fake grin. Kousuke bobs his head up and down, struggling to compose himself as he makes his way to his feet.

"Now let's find Tsubomi, if I'm not mistaken, she should be right around… here!" Shuuya squints, making a show out of searching and eventually he hears a soft hiccup from beneath the dining table. "Kousuke? Did you hear that?" He grins brightly and Kousuke sniffles before nodding in reply. "Come on Tsubomi, let's go see big sis." He declares and moments later a sobbing girl emerges from beneath the table. Shuuya can't help but smile, but before he can offer her a helping hand, Kousuke tackles them into a tight hug and it feels nice, warm and safe and suddenly tears are streaming down his cheeks, Shuuya's mask breaks and no matter how hard he tries, he can't compose himself – can't be brave for Kousuke or Tsubomi.

Shuuya cries the hardest and it takes both Kousuke's comforting words and a hug from Tsubomi to calm him down. He doesn't look them in the eyes but instead smiles blankly ahead, trying his darnedest to hold himself together. "Haha," it's a hollow and empty laugh. "Thanks," and without looking back he intertwines his fingers with Kousuke's and Tsubomi's, making his way out the door and pulling them forward.

"Shuuya," Tsubomi's voice is timid, raspy, but clear. "You know, it's okay to be upset."

He fakes a laugh, and continues pulling them along. Tsubomi doesn't understand, but he does. Heroes don't cry. Heroes never cry.

Neither Kousuke nor Tsubomi tell him, but they hear him crying at night. Shuuya cries the hardest, he's just better at hiding it than they are.

* * *

"Big sister Ayano, we miss you lots, but we're doing just fine."

Kousuke sits before her gravestone, a bouquet of flowers clutched tightly between his fingers. It's been a few months since her death, but he still misses her awfully, especially in the dead of night when shadows look like monsters and every sound is twice as scary. "Shuuya is still a handful. He plays pranks on both Tsubomi and I, and he likes dragging us on crazy adventures. I got a part time job as an apprentice at a flower shop, Shuuya and Tsubomi were really impressed, but it wasn't that hard. I was really good friends with this old woman and her pets and she asked me if I wanted to make a little extra money, I figured working hard would be good, so I agreed." He finds himself rambling on only to be met with bitter silence. "Are you proud, big sister?" Kousuke whispers as he places the bouquet of dandelions before her grave. "I wish you were still with us, big sister." He dusts himself off, zips up his white hoodie and puts on his brightest smile. There is a dull ache in his chest but Kousuke doesn't cry, she wouldn't have wanted him to.

"Don't worry about us, we're still smiling and we're still happy…but I - " Kousuke pauses when he hears laughter and yelling from behind him.

"Oi, oi, Kousuke! Tsubomi and I were starting to get worried." Shuuya puffs out his cheeks and folds his hands over his chest in indignation. "We searched the nearby forest looking all over for you!" An exasperated sigh follows. "We thought you had been eaten by a bear or something," Shuuya grins deviously while Tsubomi turns a shade of red. "You should have seen the look on Tsubomi's face when I said you were gobbled up, it was priceless – ow, ow, I was just kidding." Tsubomi instantly pinches Shuuya's cheek and the boy yowls like an injured cat.

"Shuuya! Don't make me hurt you!" The girl looks close to tears when she begins her assault. "I thought Kousuke was hurt!" She snaps, ending her barrage of attacks with a swift kick to his shin.

"Gah!" Shuuya crumples to the ground, hands over his head. "Kousuke, help." He whines, but his friend simply breaks into a fit of laughter before he giving Tsubomi a soft pat on the head.

"That should teach you not to fool around, Shuuya." Kousuke retorts in a friendly manner before helping the shorter boy to his feet. Tsubomi giggles at the comical scene, but rushes to help too. "Let's get him back home, Tsubomi." The taller boy states as he brushes the grass off of Shuuya's shoulders. The three of them begin walking back, but Kousuke lingers behind, pausing to look over his shoulder and smile. "Big sister Ayano, don't worry about us, we'll be just fine."

Kousuke believes every word and wishes that wherever Ayano is she's happy.

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Tsubomi promises to be a little braver.

"I-I'm scared." Kousuke admits as they walk through dimly lit alleyways. Shadows dart to and fro, looking more like monsters with each step. It is way past their bedtime and the tallest of the trio shivers. "Are you sure we'll find Shuuya here?" He squeaks, looking right and left as if at any time a monster could materialize out of thin air.

Tsubomi is scared too. The night air is cold and the rain even colder. They are both soaked to the bone and still there is no Shuuya in sight. "I'm sure," her voice is confident. "Shuuya always runs away here when he's upset." Tsubomi holds onto Kousuke's hand and both children are comforted by the warmth, but at the same time become even more distraught at the thought of Shuuya, cold and all by himself.

"Let's go, Kousuke. He shouldn't be much farther now."

Tsubomi leads them along bravely, the same way Ayano would have, but Kousuke can't help but feel her hand trembling in his. They are both afraid, but the thought of Shuuya alone keeps them going and soon they find him, a frown on his face and can of spray paint in his hand.

"Shuuya!" Tsubomi yells as she releases his hand and runs towards the shorter boy. "You idiot, that's vandalism and it's raining!"

"Tsubomi? Kousuke?" Instantly, Shuuya puts on another smile. "Oi, oi, you two shouldn't be out so late." He chides with another signature grin.

"Like you're one to talk," Kousuke retorts through chattering teeth.

Tsubomi glares at him, her glares have gotten mighty deadly in the past few months and she had gotten a lot braver too. Shuuya raises his hands, expecting to get pinched on the cheek, but instead he is pulled into a hug. Tsubomi is ice-cold and it is only then when he realizes how frightened the girl really is. "Sorry, sorry," he says with a smile and dismissive wave of the hand. "I just wanted to get out of the house, it's just so stuffy, y'know?" Comes a cheery chirp, but before he can say anything else, Tsubomi is ushering him out of the alley with knitted eyebrows and a frown. "Let's go before you and Kousuke catch a cold." She chides and suddenly he sees Ayano, wagging her finger in disappointment and scolding him for his silly shenanigans, it brings a smile to his face – not a fake Cheshire grin but a small and contented smile.

"Whatever you say, Tsubomi," the boy hooks both his hands behind his head and saunters off like a lazy tabby cat.

Kousuke wraps his arms around himself in an attempt to conserve warmth then follows after Shuuya while Tsubomi trails behind them. However, it doesn't last and by the time they reach home Tsubomi is dragging them both by the arms. Shuuya is reduced to a sneezing mess and Kousuke swears his head is thrice as heavy.

Tsubomi knocks on the door and a frantic Kenjirou answers, his first response is to scold and yell like any normal parent, but when he notices just how terribly tired everyone looks, he softens, tells them to get changed for bed then promises a scolding and a grounding in the morning. Shuuya and Kousuke are too tried to care and when all is said and done they stumble into bed with sore throats and stuffy noses.

"Kousuke, I'm sorry for dragging you with me." Tsubomi apologizes as she tucks the blanket around the sniffling boy. "Shuuya this is your fault."

"It's okay, Tsubomi, I wouldn't have let you chase after Shuuya by yourself." Kousuke answers in a throaty whisper.

"I already apologized Tsubomi," Shuuya whines, "and you shouldn't scold me…I already feel terrible."

Tsubomi huffs in response as she tucks him in, "you deserve it, Shuuya."

Kousuke can't help but laugh, muttering about how it's true beneath his breath before he pulls up the covers and screws his eyes shut. "You should rest too, Tsubomi, you don't want to get sick." The girl smiles at both boys and crawls into her own futon between theirs, it is warm beneath the blanket and not long after her head hits the pillow, she falls into a deep slumber.

When morning comes she is the first to wake, Tsubomi finds herself smothered between both Shuuya and Kousuke. It is deathly warm, but both boys look so peaceful. Shuuya mutters something about Ayano in his sleep and at the sound of her name Kousuke's grip on her tightens.

Tsubomi links her arms with theirs and wonders if she can be a big a sister too. "I'll take care of them, promise."

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**Thanks a ton for reading, reviews and criticism are both loved and appreciated :D! The next chapter should be up in a few days. It might be Shintaro centric, or it might focus on the trio again since I just love them so much. I'm sorry if it was a tad OOC, I wanted to write something with the trio as kids xD**


	2. Never in a Million Years

**Happy New Year :D! I hope you guys enjoy the second chapter.**

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She's dead and she's never coming back. It is a sentence so final, yet so incomplete.

"Her dead?" He fumbles with the collar of his school uniform, burying his confusion and concern beneath a mask of indifference. "I don't think so, you must have the wrong person." Heroes do not jump off of buildings, heroes do not die as far as Shintaro knows, they always go down in a blaze – they don't just die, they go out with a bang and Ayano is no different.

He cannot imagine her stained in red – cannot see her crumpled on the asphalt road, a mangled mess of broken bones and ice-cold skin.

"Don't joke about things like that." Shintaro notices his classmate's blank expression, realizes that there is a lack of cheery banter and noisy morning conversations. His heart jumps in his chest and suddenly he feels a surge of anger. "I mean it," he hisses and when the boy in front of him looks away Shintaro goes cold.

"She killed herself," someone from the class states.

"Jumped off the school roof," another voice continues.

At this point Shintaro is no longer listening and the voices that whirl around the room are nothing but a dull buzz in his ears. He feels sick to his stomach and at one point, he finds himself on his knees, palms pressed onto the cool floor and eyes screwed shut. It is his fault and he is to blame, he repeats the sentence in his head until he finds himself begging for forgiveness, but his cries fall on deaf ears – she is six feet below, and his voice will never reach her.

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Shintaro realizes that the outside world is a scary place.

"I'm sorry," he constantly mutters to the ceiling. Silence greets him and a part of him relishes the bitter loneliness and the pain. He is at fault, and he'll bear the guilt that comes along with it. Going to school is painful because the seat beside his is empty when he knows it shouldn't be. People whisper her name and it stings – he wonders if he could have saved her, and a part of him believes he could have if he hadn't been so darned selfish.

He calculates the probabilities inside his head and it is almost enough to drive him mad.

Could he have saved her? Maybe.

Should he have saved her? They were friends, weren't they? He should have said something – anything.

Would he have saved her? If he could turn time back, he'd try even it if took ten – no twenty years.

Shintaro laughs sadly at the crumpled red jersey on the floor. He isn't a hero – isn't even a good friend. He buries himself beneath his blanket and reaches for someone he will never be able to save.

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_"Hey, Shintaro-kun, don't you think the snow is pretty?"_

_"Eh, it's okay, I guess."_

_"Okay? Shintaro-kun, it's amazing!"  
_

_Warm fingers wrap around his and she tugs him along, the blustering breeze ruffles up her hair and her cheeks are pink from the cold. He can't help but stare, and while he's caught in a daze Ayano leaps forward and suddenly, before he can pull her back, she slips through his fingers and falls into the white snow. _

"_You have got to be the clumsiest person I have ever met." He retorts with a wry smile._

_Ayano makes a face, laughing at her own clumsiness. "Shintaro-kun, has anyone told you that you're a meanie?"_

"_Mhm, yeah, has anyone told you that you're an unreliable idiot?" He grins smugly at the girl's flustered complaints. "Really, you're more childish than Momo." At this point Ayano looks helpless, muttering under her breath about how much of a meanie Shintaro can be. He finds himself laughing at the girl and before he can think twice he tosses his jacket over her head._

"_Eh?" She stares up at him with a questioning stare and an uncertain smile._

"_You looked cold," he simply complains and without so much as another word she puts on his jacket and beams. Shintaro offers Ayano his hand and she takes it without hesitation, allowing him to yank her onto her feet. Her hand is warm in his, he gives it a squeeze, holds on tight and wishes the moment could last, just a little longer. To be honest, he doesn't want her to let go, but she does._

His eyes snap open and a wave of regret shoots through him.

He can't be a hero – can't save her.

Never in a million years…

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**Was Shintaro a little OOC? If so, I apologize. I find him harder to write xD than the mekakushi trio. Thanks for the follows and faves, guys, and TheChildrenReason, thanks a ton for the review :3 I appreciate it a lot. Reviews and criticism are loved 3! Happy 2014, people~!**


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